Furnace grate



June 9, 1925.

1,541,108 A. A. BRUDER umuc anun Filed May 19, 1925 2 `Sheets-Shee'c l l j@ y I :1mm

anun,

June 9, 1925. 1,541,108

A@ A. BRUDER FURNACE Gnus Filed May 19, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J7 i8 Z2 l I 2lZ j? Zia 2l- A Patented June 9, 1925.

UNITED STATEs ALBERT A. BRUDER, OF HOLLY, lvlIIfJHICTAlQ'.`

FURNACE GRATE.

Application filed May 19,

To all whom t may concern: n

Be it known that I, ALBERT A. BRUDER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Holly, in the county of Oakland and State of Michigan, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Furnace Grates, of which the following is a specilication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to furnace gratos, and has special reference to thatclass of grates which are detachable for repair or cleaning purposes, rockable for shaking down a fire, and composed of a plurality of units either of which may be rocked independent of the other units. Such a grate can be advantageously used in connection with furnaces, cooking ranges and structures having large combustion chambers or fire boxes in which a large bed of burning fuel may be maintained. y y

One of the `objects of my invention is to provide a grate of the above type that may be bodily shifted' into an ash pit or chamber and quickly mounted to form the bottom off a combustion chamber or` fire boX, the grate being laid down 0r completely removed should it be necessar to repair or clean adjacent parts of the urnace structure.

Another object of this invention is to provide a grate composed of a plurality of rockable units, some of which are intermeshing and constructed to readily dispose of clinkers and other non-fusible material that may accumulate on the grate. All of the rockable units have a configuration to permit of ashes being easily disposed of without any danger of clinkers or even fuel material interfering with a rocking movement of the grate units.

A further object of, this invention is to provide a grate composed of rockable units and novel means for rocking the units in s vnchronism, which means also permits of 'either grate unit being rocked while the others are held stationary.

The above and other objects are attained by a construction that will be hereinafter described and then claimed, and reference willV now be had to the drawings. wherein- Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a furnace grate in accordance with my invention, showing the grate in connection with a portion of a furnace;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, partly broken away and partly in section;

Fig, is a perspective view of a portion 1923. serial No. 640,077.

of an operating lever by which the grate units may be actuated;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the grate rocking mechanism showing selective individual rockers;

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view of the grate; y

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional View of a portion of the furnace showing the grate in plan;

, Fig. 7 is an elevation of the inner side of a retaining member as mounted on a furnace wheel, and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view ofa portion of the same.

As showing the grate and its operating .mechanism in connection with a furnace, I

have illustrated the lower portion of the furnace including an ash pit formedby side walls 1, a rear wall 2, a furnace front wall 3 and a top wall 4, said top wall supporting the walls 5 of a fire box or combustion chamber 6 which communicateswith the ash pit 1 through an opening?- in the top wall 4. The rear wall 2 of the ash pit may have Va flue opening 8 and the furnace wall 3 has an opening 9 the full width and depth of the ash pitso that ashes may be readily removed therefrom.` The opening 9 is adapted to be closed by a conventional' form of door or Mframe 12 has angular lugs 14 adapted to engage pivoted hangers 15 suspended from the top wall 4 at the sides of theash pit. When the forward rail 13 of the grate frame is raised the lugs 14 ride into engagement with the hangers 15, cause the same to momentarily swing forward, and then said hangers engage under the lugs and cooperate with the inclined guideways 10 in supporting the grate frame 12 in a horizontal position vin theupper part of the ash pit. The opening 9 permits of thegrate frame being placedl on the guideways 10, pushed inwardly into the upper part of the ash pit, and then raised 4and automatically fastened in position.

be necessary to clean the grate, the

units 23 and the frame 12 The outerends of the shafts v17 top20 inlowe of thev fire boX, or remove the grate for' any purpose, the hangers 15 can be swung forwardly to release the forward' edge of the grate frame, permit itito be` solely supported by the guideways 10, and

'then' shifted forwardly out of the ash pit.

The rails 11 and 13 of the grate frame 12 are provided with sets of longitudinally alining sockets 16 for grateirocker shafts 17, 13, 119 and 20, the shafts' 1T and 18 being disposed .in parallelism at one side of the central longitudinaliplane of the ash pit and the shafts 19 and 2O disposed in parallelism at the opposite side of such vertical plane. j The shafts 1T and 2O are provided with gra-te umts 21 having` straight edgesfadjacent 'the side rails ofthe grate frame l2, asbest showin 1n Fig. 6,' andthe shafts `18 and 19 have intermeshing grate units 22 which cooperate with the grate units 21 in providing a grate: of large area. The straight edges of the grate units" 21 are curvedl upwardly, as best shown in' Fig.

Aso as to precludelashes or burning coals from falling over the edges of said units and becoming wedged between said units and the grate frame 112. All of the grate units are' adapted to' be swungdown'wardly, the units 21S`winging away from the side rails of the grate frame 12 and the units 22 swinging away from each other. of the units 21 being easily swung into the frame l2, the straight edges of said units have' depending flanges 23 and the confronting edgeso'f the units 22 are provided with similar flanges or shoes 24. Thesejfla'nges or shoes will crush anyl clinkers or coals partially burned that may lodge-between Athe edges of the units v22 or between the be easilyraise'd andvlsetK onthepins or studs 2.8 Rft'wh'ch th hitch@ 29m@ @swung intoaposition The .upper edge ofthe retaining member 26'iscut. away and formed with 'sockets 31 to'cooperate with the wall- 3 andere socket ie ,of uiegate frame 12 in s iipportiiigtlie shafts 17 150120 inclus-'ive so thatthe s'amemay berockedi, i j j Onthe outer ends of the shafts 17 to -20 inclusiv'e are' upstanding' rcranks l32 and piv` chamber 6.

To perniitV ota-lly connected to the ends of said cranks areV angular rocker members 33 the long j arms of which serve as handles and the short arms asprojections34 to engage in notches of a reciprocable rocker bar 36 slidable in a guide 3T carried by the furnace wall 3. One end of the rocker bar 36 is pivotally connected, as at 38 to an operating` lever 39 pivotally attached to the furnace wall 3. The upper end of the operating lever 39 has a handle' 40 terminating in an offset projection 41 adapted to be engaged bya keeper 42 pivotallly attache-d'7 asat 4'3 to the furnace v walll 3.` The keeper has curved s'i'de lips 44 adapted to be engaged by theV projection 41 sogthat saidy projection may/.easily ride into and out of'engagem'entwith the keeper 42. The keeper 42 be held in a Vraised position while the operating vlever 39 is manually osoillated( With the keeper 42 in engagement with the' projection 4l the grate shaking mechanism is yinY a locked condition and the grate units held tolmaintain a fire bed within the fire box or combustion rBelow the reciprocatorybar 36, ateach set of cranks 32, is a slotted ledge fliand the projections :3,4 of the individual rocker members 33 must. aline with the slots in the ledges 45 before the projections 34 can be swung out of engagement with thebar When the handle portion of any lrocker member is raised the shaft from which said rocker .member is supported may be rocked or oscillated independent ofthe other shafts which are held by virtue of the bar36 and the operating lever 3.9Ql It is through the medium of the individual rocking members that grate units maybe selected for individual dumping of clinkeif's or other waste material on the grate. VVhe-n all of the rocker shafts are coupled to the bar 36 the operating lever 39 may be oscillated to vibrate the grate units and `shake down a lire bed on the grate. It is v,only when some particular portion of the lire bed requires agitation that either the individual rocker members is used, lotherwise therocker members are actuated synchronism from the lever 39. Since the individua-l rocker inembers are not directlyconnected toY the bar 36 it is obvious thatr the `grate may be bodily dropped and removed from the kash pit without interfering with the'operating mechanism as carried by the furnacel wallI 3.

yThen againr` the crank ends of said rocker shafts facilitate manipula-tion of the grate asavvhole-.A Y

While inthe drawings, there is illustrated a preferredvembodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the structural `elements are, susceptible toy such variations-and ions as fall within the scope `,of themodifica lll@ l. The combination with a fire box and ash pit, of guideways in the ash pit, a grate frame slidable on said guideways and adapted to be fixed relative to the fire box, and rockable units carried yby said grate frame and operatable at the front of said ash pit to shake down a fire in the fire box on said grate units.

2. The combination called for in claim l, and means in frontof said ash pit adapted for rocking said grate units in synchronism and adapted to permit of individual rocking of either grate unit.

A furnace grate comprising a frame, rock shafts supported by said frame, grate units carried by said rock shafts in said frame, individual depending rocker members pivotally supported from the outer ends of said rock shafts, and reciprocatory .means above said rock shafts engaged by said individual rocker members so that all of said members may be actuated in synchronism, said pivoted rocker members being arranged to have the outer ends thereof raised to disengage said rocker members from said actuating means.

4:. A furnace grate as called for in claim 3, wherein said rock shafts have upwardly extending cranks supporting said pivoted rocker members.

5. A furnace grate as called for in claim 3, wherein said rock shafts are disposed in sets with some of said grate units provided with intermeshing crushing shoes adapted to crush clinkers or coals that may lodge between adjacent edges of said units.

6. The combination with an ash pit having a doorway, of guideways in the ashv pit, a grate frame having one end thereof normally supported by said guideways, hangers supporting the opposite end of said grate frame, rock shafts carried by said grate frame and extending through the upper edge of the doorway of said ash pit, a retaining member supporting said rock shafts in the upper edge of the doorway of said ash pit, grate units carried by said rock shafts in said grate frame, and means at the outer ends of said rock shafts to facilitate rocking said shafts in synchronism.

7 The combination called for in claim 6, wherein said means includes individual rocker members to permit of either shaft being rocked independent of the other shafts. l

8. A furnace grate comprising a frame, sets of rock shafts supported by said frame,

grate units carried by some of said shaftsv and having intermeshing edges adapted to be swung downwardly away from each other, and grate units carried by the other of said shafts adapted to be swung downwardly towards each other.

9. A furnace grate as called for in claim S, and means articulated with said shafts for either actuating said shafts in sfynehronism or to permit of either shaft being actuated independent of the other shafts.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my Vsignature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT A. BRUDER. Witnesses ANNA M. DoRR, KARL H. BUTLER. 

